I'm a drugstore diva, myself, and I have never tried department store makeup. My budget simply can't allow for it. Unfortunately, for foundation and the like, my choices are limited by which brands actually carry my skintone, and Covergirl 'Clean' in ivory happens to be it. I have used Maybelline in the past, but found it to be much oilier on my skin, and more orange in tone. However, I do use the Maybelline cover stick (green stick for redness) lightly as a base, and I also use their translucent mineral powder to set the whole thing. It's definitely not a 24-hour look. After eight hours at work, my face clearly starts to melt a bit, especially now that I work with a deep fryer much of the day. The heat and the smoke are terrible on my skin.

That's what I wear every day, in addition to frequent applications of lip balm - plain old Lip Smackers does the job just fine for me. Someone gave me Avon lip balm as a gift once, and I hated it. It made my lips constantly peel, and it always had this oily texture to it, instead of a smooth finish like I wanted.

For special occasions, I use Covergirl Lash Blast mascara, which comes out very dark and goes on fairly thick, so I use a lash comb (not bought; given to me years ago) to prevent clumping. No lash curlers; the comb does more than enough, and I think they're bad for the eyes anyway. I have used pencil eyeliners in the past (I particularly liked a twist-up Avon version - another gift), but smudging is an annoyance and now I use a liquid liner, which has great staying power, but if it flakes off, it's pretty noticeable. The liquid brand is Maybelline, and it came as sort of a nail-polish-type brush, although I would have greatly preferred a felt penciltip. I have one of those now, but haven't given it a try yet.

I do have a Hard Candy mascara in electric blue, which is pretty, but requires several coats to be noticeable (may not show up at all on dark lashes, but mine are blonde). I also bought a pencil liner from them in "Submarine" (dark blue with sparkles), but it doesn't go on worth a shit and you can barely see it when you do finally get a line.

For eyeshadow, there's just one set for me. Coastal Scents 88 Color Palette, which I bought for sixteen dollars at a discount, and it is the single best beauty purchase I have made. The color payoff could be a bit more, but use with a wet brush and that's a non-issue. Now, they have it priced even lower, and there's a 252 palette for just as cheap, and I highly, highly recommend it. If you're like me, and you don't do a lot of eye make up, something like this is a godsend that allows you to experiment to your heart's content. You can see the palette (and the Hard Candy mascara, although it was layered over some standard black) in action here.

There is one worthy mention aside from the 88 palette, and that is Maybelline Color Tattoo. I wanted gold eyeshadow, and boy oh boy does this one ever have staying power. I slept in the stuff once after a full day of wear and it was only just starting to crease in the morning. The only issue is that I have to use a foam applicator. My brushes won't even pick up the color. It looks great, though, once it's on there.

I don't use lipsticks or glosses almost ever, but I do have a cheap $1 NYC petal pink shade that looks nice on me, as well as a cooling pastel pink gloss that was given to me by a friend, and that's nice too. I find that with my extremely pale complexion, bright or dark lip colors look really bizarre. I'm scared to try something like a lip stain, because I don't want some garish color to get on me and not come off.

I never wear blush, and I don't bother with contouring or any of that. I like the pale, dead look. I think it suits me and my personality, and I'm not too worried about being a perfect Barbie doll. I've never worn fake lashes, although I would like to try it once for fun, and I have never tried colored contacts, although that also sounds interesting.

As for tools, I only have a very cheap set of brushes from Wal-Mart (out of seven, I really only use about three) and an equally cheap kabuki brush for the mineral powder. This has sustained me over the years, and I don't really see a need to buy any others. I apply my foundation and the like with clean fingers, and have never tried using a brush like is often suggested. Make up is removed with a store brand facial astringent followed by some water to wash off the alcohol and not dry out my skin so much. My facial lotion is the generic version of Olay, and I like it a lot. I use it every day, once before applying makeup in the morning, and again after I remove it at night, and always after showers. It only takes a pea-sized amount, though, so the bottles last me a long time.

I think that's about it for me. I won't go into hair/nails and that sort of thing, because it's nothing special.

So what about you? Are you a makeup freak? Do you prefer to go natural? Somewhere in between?

I think I'm in the 'somewhere in between' category, mostly due to the fact that I've always gone without makeup until recently, and even now it's not a daily routine. For one I just didn't care in grade school since I didn't have time for it, and secondly because my skin, (particularly around my eyes), are super sensitive. I can't just go to a drug store and buy makeup off the rack, unfortunately, as it makes my eyes bloodshot and the skin under my nose itch, (I won't even get into what happens when I'm wearing contacts, lol). The only thing I've ever really worn is lip colors, since that's always worked out well. I don't usually buy glosses, but my friends usually just buy them for me as presents anyway. Most of the time it's either flavored Carmex chap stick, (freaking LOVE Carmex), or a dark lip gloss that's similar to lipstick but in a tube. I used to get a wine red color via Maybelline, but a few years ago they discontinued my favorite color. However, recently I had a coupon for Victoria Secret that I used on their shine gloss and it's served me well by lasting quite a while.

I have found a brand of concealer/eye makeup that doesn't make me want to gauge my eyes out in pain, though. Merle Norman makes some pretty awesome stuff that doesn't look like I've caked on a ton of concealer and foundation. Turns out also that due to having pale skin and a more red pigment, (rather than yellow), I'm basically two steps below 'albino' on the skin color chart, which never would have matched anything at the store anyway. Blush is nice when I know my photo is going to be taken, but most days I don't care enough to find it in the bathroom somewhere. I'm a big fan of eyeliner, particularly more in a subdued cat-eye shape. Mascara kind of freaks me out to put on, so I kind of avoid it. >.>; I have thick enough, dark enough lashes that get stuck in my eye as it is; I don't need to have them coated in makeup too.

From what I've tried of lip stains, they generally come off like 10 minutes after you remove it. If you wanted to try something on and it was awful, it wouldn't last very long anyway, especially if you kept wiping it off with makeup remover and/or soap.

I have found that Ben Nye regular face creme mixed with some of their decayed flesh with dabs of the purple and green for highlight areas using their latex and stage blood make for much more "realistic" zombies then just using grey white and ketchup.

Well unless I'm cosplaying I stay away from makeup.. but I have used lipstick, concealer and eyeliner (f that stuff) and eye shadow. Hopefully one day I can make myself look pretty and not like a cheap whore